When was the last time you looked at that extra label pasted on your prescription bottles?

You know the one I mean.

Sometimes it’s vertical and sometimes it’s horizontal. It often says something like “May cause drowsiness. Alcohol may intensify the effects. Use care when operating a car or dangerous machinery.”

That’s pretty routine, actually, but each year at least 4 million Americans experience some sort of adverse reaction to prescription medications, some because they didn’t read the label.

The reactions — ranging from mild rashes to hospitalization to death — could be avoided if warning labels were more effective, according to a Michigan State University study.

The study revealed only half the participants surveyed looked at the warning label and 22 percent didn’t look at any labels, says Laura Bix, associate professor in Michigan State’s School of Packaging. She concludes some relatively simple changes could improve the labels’ effectiveness.

“Given our results, we are recommending a complete overhaul of the design and labeling of the ubiquitous amber bottles, which have seen little change since their introduction 50 years ago,” she writes in her report.

“Our initial recommendations would be to move all of the warnings from the colored stickers to the main white label.”

The change is especially important on prescriptions used by patients 50-plus, Bix said in an interview.

“Students in our study tend to rotate the vial and actively search for information. Older folks assume they are going to know what’s on there, so they don’t read it.”

Bix admits she doesn’t know why older prescription users do not read warning labels.

“It could be difficulties in vision or perception or it could just be lack of awareness,” she says.

She said we have to find a way to make sure these patients notice the warning labels and heed them.

“I believe too many of these warnings are pasted on the bottle vertically. I recommend a horizontal application at the bottom of the regular prescription information.”

Her students found that, on average, more than 30 percent of those 65 and older take 10 different medications daily. Taking multiple medications increases the odds of adverse reactions, she says.

Also, this complication is “complicated further” since older participants were less likely to notice or remember the warnings.

The study results highlight the importance of studying how people notice and pay attention to the labels, says Mark Becker, assistant Michigan State University professor of cognition and cognitive neuroscience.

“By applying basic research on the control of attention to the design of labels, we may greatly improve their effectiveness,” he says in the report.

— By Jane Glenn Haas, The Orange County Register (MCT)